U.S. Expedites Arms Shipments To Coalition Bombing Yemen

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - The United States is speeding up arms supplies and bolstering intelligence sharing with a Saudi-led alliance bombing a militia aligned with Iran in neighboring Yemen, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S., a key ally of oil-rich Saudi Arabia, had also set up a coordination center in the Sunni Muslim kingdom, whose forces have led an air campaign against the Shi'ite Houthi group which rules most of Yemen.

"Saudi Arabia is sending a strong message to the Houthis and their allies that they cannot overrun Yemen by force," he told reporters in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

"As part of that effort, we have expedited weapons deliveries, we have increased our intelligence sharing, and we have established a joint coordination planning cell in the Saudi operation center," Blinken added.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/07/us-yemen-security-idUSKBN0MY1TL20150407

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School Children Killed In Saudi-Led Airstrike In Yemen

SANAA: A Saudi-led airstrike hit a Shia Houthi-controlled military base in the central Yemeni province of Ibb on Tuesday, destroying the base and damaging a nearby school where two students were killed, officials and residents told Xinhua.

"We heard sounds of several warplanes hovering above our heads since early morning. Abruptly, we then heard six powerful bombings on al-Hamza military base in Mafrak Maitam," tribal official Mohamed Kassim told Xinhua news agency over phone.

"The military base, which is under the control of Houthi militias and their allies of former Republican Guards, was almost destroyed," he said.

The aerial bombardments also damaged a nearby school, killing two students, aged 10 to 12 years old, and injuring dozens of others, local residents said.

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